Quotations by:
    Ericsson, Graham

Just because the other person is obviously, blindingly wrong, doesn’t mean we can be sloppy in our arguments against him. All we do in that case is strengthen his position and weaken our own.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

“Right and Rigor” (2001)

Expediency is the first refuge of scoundrels.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

“Right and Rigor” (2001)

See Johnson.

The road to hell is paved with religious conservatives? Nah, probably not. I’ve no doubt, though, that there are a few being used to fill in the potholes.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

(Attributed)

Do what you need to do.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

(Attributed)

History is unchanging truths veiled in ever-changing circumstances.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

(Attributed)

There are none so blind as those who think they can see.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

(Attributed)

A century from now, nobody will know which way I drove to work, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have to keep my eyes on the road.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

A View from Eighteen, ch. 1 (2011)

Anger is a corpse in the closet: the longer locked up, the greater the stink when brought out.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

Fragments Few and Free (1999)

We don’t have any enemies. Just friends we wish wouldn’t call so often.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

Fragments Few and Free (1999)

To say, “You’re angry over such a little thing,” is like saying, “The fire started with just a little match.” It may well be true, but it does nothing to alleviate the present situation.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

Fragments Few and Free (1999)

There is no good cause for religious persecution. No convert is true who comes to the faith through pain and fear. All persecution does is plant seeds of doubt amongst the hearts of the faithful as to the truth of their cause.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

Heaven and Earth (2002)

Poverty, when voluntary, is quite probably a virtue. But few can blame those subjected to it involuntarily for wishing to be done with it.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

Heaven and Earth (2002)

Church and state are drawn to each other like moths and flame, and when they are, it’s always about power — power over the population, power over souls. power over votes. But religious and political leaders alike should remember what happens when the moth and flame finally get together.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

Heaven and Earth (2002)

There’s always a temptation for the Church to try and take on the power of the state. There are all those souls to save, don’t you know, and all those rules to pass to make sure they are. But politics, statecraft, lawmaking, power brokering — those engines all run on compromise, and compromise is the worst enemy of principle, which is, after all, what the Church is supposed to be about to be about. It’s hard to be a moral compass when you keep turning from your course.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

Heaven and Earth (2002)

Religious leaders too often think that if they just got the government to pay for their programs, they could do so much more good. But they should also know too well from bitter experience that big donors often have strings attached to their donations, and Uncle Sam is the biggest donor of all. Accept his money, even if he seems to be nodding in agreement with you, and sooner or later you’ll find you’ve compromised away your mission and become too dependent on his largesse to get it back. Churches should keep away from the state, not just for the good of the state, but for their own good as well.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

Heaven and Earth (2002)

The powerful — be they church leaders or politicians — always seem to forget the one lesson of history: everything changes. The party in power today is not going to be the party in power in a decade, or next year. The group you made a gentleman’s agreement with this election cycle is going to be a completely different group, with different demands, next one. And yet, the powerful insist on trying to weaken the rules that keep them from being still more powerful, as if that could fend off the day of their fall — and the rise of others, probably their opponents, who will operate under the same weakened rules and ugly precedents. Unfortunately, in those sorts of payback situations, nobody’s a winner.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

Heaven and Earth (2002)

I am less concerned about my relationship with God in the afterlife than I am in my relationship with him in this one.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

Heaven and Earth, ch. 2 (2002)

Where religion speaks of the heart and soul, and of what happens before we’re born and after we die, and why, then agreeing or disagreeing with it is a matter of personal taste, spirit, and judgment. Where it speaks of the objective, of the real world, of what evidence of our eyes should be accepted or rejected, it is worth no more than anyone else spouting off at a cocktail party.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

Into a New Day (2008)

The rule of law should not suspended whenever it is convenient or urgent. It is at times when we are most tempted, most compelled to ignore the law that we should should be most reliant upon it, and consider most carefully the consequences of ignoring it. The law is there precisely to keep us from making mistakes when it is convenient or urgent to act.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

Into a New Day (2008)

Aesthetics are not morality. Don’t confuse Taste for Truth, Icky for Evil, or Preference for Perfection.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

My So-Called Deep Thoughts (2002)

Usually, I’m not really asking advice. I’m asking approval.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

Tangled Web (2004)

Anyone who says the computer always gets things right is trying to sell you a computer.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

Tangled Web (2004)

Too many moral busy-bodies have confuse impertinent with important.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

Tangled Web (2004)

Silence is not damage control. Silence is standing by hoping that if you don’t pay attention to the fires and the water rushing into the hold, it will all magically go away. Swift, forthright, honest communication: that’s damage control. Because what’s usually damaged most in a crisis is trust, and you can only be trusted if you show yourself trustworthy.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

The Crisis of the Day (2004)

You may autopsy a body all day long, but you’ll never learn what sort of jokes he liked.

Graham Ericsson (b. 1947) American writer, aphorist

Thoughts Like Leaves (28 Jul. 2002)